


no grave can hold my body down

by Ro29



Series: "Be the Rarepair content you want to see in the world" [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop, Umbara sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27612280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro29/pseuds/Ro29
Summary: When Hardcase died on Umbara he'd expected tostaydead, not, not whatever this was.
Relationships: CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555 & Hardcase, Hardcase & CT-5597 | Jesse, Hardcase & CT-7567 | Rex, Hardcase/CT-5385 | Tup/Dogma
Series: "Be the Rarepair content you want to see in the world" [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022017
Comments: 32
Kudos: 104





	1. Hardcase Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lastbattlecry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastbattlecry/gifts).



> this is all cry's fault, i love hardcase so much now and I'm sljfklsj
> 
> title is from hozier's 'work song'

Hardcase jerks back to himself with a pained cry. The sound of explosions rings loudly in his ear and the searing flash of fire and pain ripples through him as—

General Skywalker turns to him, frowns, “You all right trooper?”

He freezes because no — that wasn’t — he wasn’t.

He _shouldn’t_ be awake, he was _dead_. Why was the General asking him that? Was the General dead as well?

Except that—

This isn’t _right_ , because the General _left_ , and they were under General _Krell’s_ command right now.

Or at least, he _had_ been under General Krell’s command, before he—

Oh. The explosions aren’t just ringing in his ears ( _heat ‘go-get-out-follow-this-order’ pain ‘for-the-501st’ choking-fire-nothing)_ from the explosion in his head, there’s an airstrike going on.

Okay, Hardcase thinks, this is fine. This is _fine_ , this is normal. He can do this.

Definitely.

Jesse turns and nudges him, concern written into the set of his shoulders, “You alright there ‘Case?”

_Osik_.

He nods, “Yeah, I’m fine, just admiring the view.”

Jesse laughs, “Course, c’mon let’s go.”

He follows after Jesse, tries to remember everything he did the first time around, can’t remember much more than the bigger things and one or two little details.

This, he realizes suddenly, is _not_ going to be fun.

(He dies again, the same way as the first time. And when he jolts back to himself he realizes that this is gonna be even harder than he first thought.)

* * *

It’s after the fifth time of jolting back to himself, after running through the same route with only a few radical changes that always seem to lead to him dying on the supply ship, that he thinks that _something_ needs to change.

There’s a reason he keeps coming back, he’s sure there is, thinks that maybe he needs to figure it out.

He’s never really been into the force shit before though, nothing beyond the stray thought of how incorporating it into a strategy might work and look cool. And really, all he needs is to get through this campaign, and General Krell’s _awful_ plans, alive and with as many of the men alive as he can manage.

This time he tries something different when the beginnings of the plan to use the ships emerge. He takes it to Krell himself, argues and argues because he’s a _lot_ of things but stubborn is different then _stupid,_ and when Krell finally snaps Hardcase has a lot of realizations in a very short amount of time.

The first is that Krell is either _completely stupid_ , incompetant, or just enjoys watching the men die.

The second is that Krell should never have been a Jedi.

(The third is that the burning cold anger Krell exudes reminds Hardcase of the way General Skywalker gets sometimes. Though General Skywalker’s anger is less carefully concealed, burns bright and hot and then leaches out of him.

Krell’s anger and distaste never leave, are a constant.)

This time he doesn’t even make it to the supply ship before he dies, killed from behind and not knowing who did it.

He comes back to himself with a vicious curse, blurry vision, and a sick feeling in his stomach that he doesn’t have all the information he needs yet.

Stares at the explosions in front of him and the realization sinks in that he might have to keep doing this, again and again until he _gets_ that information.

He thinks it might be enough to drive someone crazy.

_Well then_ , Hardcase thinks with faux cheer, _I’ll just have to make sure I stay sane_. _Should be easy enough!_

He laughs, only a little hysterical, and though Tup and the General give him strange looks, the Captain has read enough of his incident reports and Jesse knows him well enough that they just snort, don’t think much of it, Jesse even leaning in to nudge his shoulder. Fives just shrugs, reaches out to pat him on the back.

He’s got this, he can do this.

He _has to_ , really, there’s no other option.

* * *

Hardcase has now lived through this campaign enough times that he surprises himself with just _how_ _much_ he still finds himself hoping that this time will be different.

Stands there — so full of that hope that he’s trembling with it — and watches as it doesn’t. Watches as his desperate thought that, _maybe,_ this time will be the redo where General Skywalker sends Krell away and Torrent will survive as best as they can on this forsaken, sith-hells campaign, slip away.

Hardcase knows he has always been maybe a little too enthusiastic, been too prone to hope where others had already given it up.

He still has that hope, even though he’s watched these same brothers die repeatedly. Over and over until he can look at them and see how they’ll die in his mind's eye. Some of those deaths stay the same, some change, all of them leave Hardcase with the images of corpse’s and the light of the explosions burning behind his eyelids.

(He didn’t think he could ever really hate explosions before, but he thinks he might be growing to hate these specific ones.)

He’s started hoping, just a little bit, in a way that he knows probably would have Kix fretting about unhealthy coping skills, that the loss of these brothers will stop registering to him. Stop feeling like a blaster bolt to the heart and a ‘sabre held to the neck.

(And he knows what both of those feel like now too. But, _still_ , he thinks that maybe it’ll be different.)

But it never does, and he’s _tired_. A bone-deep ache that he feels every time he comes back to himself and sees that he’s still on Umbara. The residual thoughts and emotions from however he died that time flowing through him and overwhelming him until he can push it down.

There’s anger now, righteous and furious, when he sees Krell. Has to sit through the same exchanges over and over again.

(‘ _This’_ , he thinks as Krell calls the Captain by his CT number, _memorizes_ all of their numbers just so he doesn’t have to say any of their _names_ , ‘ _is definitely how someone can go crazy_.’)

He has figured out though, that his death is never set in stone, even when he dies on the supply ship it can still be different in little ways. There is never one specific endpoint, just the same beginning.

He _can_ change things, has done it before, made some decisions too early, some too late. And sometimes his decisions keep brothers alive or kill them when in a previous loop they lived.

It’s all _tricky_ is the thing, it’s all a puzzle that doesn’t always fit right.

Hardcase isn’t good at those real fancy logic puzzles, it’s just not his thing, he likes the _idea_ of them, but in practice he’ll always prefer machinery.

And—

_Oh_ , he thinks, _okay_.

He’s been looking at it wrong, trying to think about how to make sense of it in terms he doesn’t understand, the Force and tricky negotiations and all stuff that the Generals might excell at but that _Hardcase_ doesn’t. And it’s messing with him on top of how much the entire situation is already scrambling his hardware.

So what he needs to do is think of this not as something unkowable or mystical, even though he thinks that might be just what it is, but something that he can approach like an engine set up or a bomb.

Simple and easy.

He can do this, it might take a while but, he _can_ do this.

The next time he comes back to himself again, doubling over and coughing from the force of his last death, it’s easier to fight off that hopelessness.

The General and the Captain both turn to look at him, and Jesse reaches out to him, concern in the set of his shoulders and worry in his grip.

“Hardcase?” Jesse asks.

He waves his hand, catches his breath, and stands up. Rasps out, “I’m fine.”

The General raises an eyebrow, “You sure about that trooper?”

Tup takes a stuttered step towards him at that, and Hardcase straightens up, waves them all off again, “Don’t worry sir, just something caught in my throat.”

The General raises an eyebrow, a dubious expression on his face but he shrugs, “If you say so trooper, but if it gets worse see the medics about it.”

“Sir, yes, Sir.” Hardcase says.

The General nods, turns and starts walking away, calls over his shoulder, “Let’s go then men, this campaign isn’t over yet.”

Jesse and Tup both shoot one more look at Hardcase before they go and Fives hangs back for a second before the Captain shoos him forward.

When he follows after them, Hardcase can feel the Captain’s eyes on his back as he walks.

Explaining away his reactions to the lingering of his deaths is starting to get _annoying_ , which probably isn’t the best thing.

But it _is_ also true.

It causes stalls in the machinery, cogs sticking all based on how he reacts when he first jerks back to the world of the living. It’s not something you can really fix though, so he needs to figure out how to plan around it, like adapting to an explosion catching something flammable in it’s wake and creating a bigger mess.

He just needs to figure out how to stop the fire from burning down the whole place around him and figure out how to put it out before it ever really gets started.

Which is — _easier_ said than done if Hardcase is being completely honest.

This go round, when Krell starts to make bad calls, Hardcase goes to the Captain and not General Krell.

“Captain, Sir, are you willing to let these men under your command die for no reason.” He asks, hates asking this. Hates doing this to Captain Rex when Hardcase has watched him, in every version of this forsaken campaign do his damned best to get every man out alive as best he can.

It’s not fair, but Hardcase hasn’t been able to afford being fair for a while now.

The Captain twitches, says with an even voice, “The General ordered it, Hardcase, and I can’t go against his direct orders without proof, it’s insubordination, not to mention—” He cuts himself off, purses his lips.

“Go bunk down for the night trooper. I’ll do what I can.” Hardcase goes.

The Captain hadn’t looked him in the eye once that entire time.

He dies again, something he is getting a tad bit sick off if he’s being quite honest.

(The Captain dies with a ‘sabre through his chest and Harcase only has a moment of realization before he’s being cut down as well.

And well—

He knows now, why Krell had been so uncaring about their lives when he was supposed to be a Jedi.)

* * *

He comes back to himself the same as always, though this time it’s a little easier to push back the feelings of _pain-burning-helplessness-choking_ then it usually is.

(Hardcase thinks it might not be a good thing, knows already that Kix would fuss and Jesse would give him _looks_. Mostly Hardcase just wants to blow the Umbarans up more than ever, wants to get rid of Krell too. Wants to end this _fucking_ loop.

He settles for fiddling with better explosives, new things that can help him and his plans.

Restarting them every time he dies is getting tedious.)

When he comes back to himself though, there is something bigger than just his maybe not great acceptance of dying that is different.

He doesn’t really know _what_ is different, but he knows that _something_ is out of place, can feel it in his bones.

He has always woken on Umbara, watching as the airstrike rains down with Tup, Fives, Jesse, the General, and the Captain. And he does this time as well, settles into himself with a cut off gasp and the memory of fire burning at his skin. Breathes through the panic, the instinctive wave of terror that courses through him each time he wakes up from a particularly bad death.

Nothing seems out of the ordinary and it’s only as they’re walking away that he realizes what’s different this time.

Tup had hesitated before moving to join them.

He’s never, in any of the times Hardcase has done this, hesitated before joining them.

It takes Hardcase twenty seconds to steady his breathing, another five to shove the hope of not being alone away, and ten more to watch Tup and plan.

He sees the way Tup is still shaking faintly every few seconds. The way he keeps glancing at the General, as if him being there is both shocking and the best thing in the galaxy. Knows the feeling intimately.

He has a feeling that this time around is going to go completely different than he’d been planning, doesn’t know whether that’ll be a good thing or a bad thing. Hopes he gets a chance to blow both the Umbaran’s and Krell’s plans to karking kingdom come and get out of it alive this time around.

He knows that it has a slim chance of happening, hopes anyways, because if he doesn’t then whatever twisted thing is doing this wins.

He’s been making it a point of not letting it win. Is both stubborn enough and, after so many deaths, _spiteful_ enough that he couldn’t care _less_ if it’s the Force or a deity or any other what-have-you doing this.

He's choosing, with great enthusiasm, to not let himself grow hopeless, will make it out of this sane if he has to do it through spite and willpower and explosives alone.

It may be easier now, with someone else.

Kriffing hells he hopes he's not alone anymore. Feels selfish for it and yet can't help it.

He taps his bracers against Tup's, jolts him back to the present and out of the memories of however he died.

Tup looks up and Hardcase nods to him, says, sarcasm heavy on his tongue and the irony almost painful, "Welcome to the loop Tup. Hope you enjoy your stay."

Tup is shaking still, and he whispers with a mix of dread and horror, "Oh no."

Hardcase grimaces, "Yeah, that about sums it up."

Tup breathes, grabs at Hardcase's arm and holds on tight, "Please tell me this isn't going to keep happening."

Hardcase closes his eyes, twists his hand so he can hold Tup's, and sighs. "Sorry Tup. 'Fraid I haven't found a way that stops it yet."

Tup exhales shakily, breathes out a quiet, "Karking _hell_."

"Yeah," Hardcase agrees, "that was my reaction too. Though I think I did a lot more cursing."

Tup laughs, and it's the kind of laugh you do when everything is going wrong and nothing is okay.

Hardcase squeezes Tup's wrist gently, "Yeah,” he says, looking out at the Umbaran landscape again, “I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes hi, hello, im fdjsljfk love them i swear


	2. Hardcase and Tup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hardcase squeezes at Tup’s shoulders, nudges him, “We just have to do our best to only make a mess out of the Umbaran’s then, yeah?”
> 
> Tup laughs, still laced with nerves, “Yeah, guess so.”
> 
> They look up and watch as the General’s ship leaves the atmo and they are left alone with Krell and a campaign that seems determined to see them dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> skljfk Please excuse all inaccuracies I am very small and very tired so you can imagine the kind of stress that i am under.

Tup has never, as far as Hardcase knows, died before him in a loop.

The problem is that despite that, Tup only started looping _now_ , and doesn’t remember anything from the loops Hardcase has already done. So any possible information he might have to help, just by virtue of living longer, just isn’t there.

It isn’t Tup’s fault, but it’s frustrating.

He doesn't think that either of them are very keen on dying any more than they already have, much less because Krell is an incompetant leader and a darksider just trying to screw this entire campaign up.

Hardcase would like _very much_ to punch him.

He twitches, clenches his hand tight in a fist.

He just needs to wait, just a little, needs to figure out how to keep the mass casualties from happening without setting Krell off on everyone.

And on top of all of that, he needs to figure out how to get his hands on those fighters again and up to the supply ship.

The problem is that everytime they successfully grabbed the fighters, it happened when he followed the rest of the loop more or less how he remembers it the first time. Not exact, but close enough. And after that was when he veered off course.

And if he wants to keep the casualties lower, that means trying to avoid the strategies Krell had forced them into.

He grimaces, glad for his bucket, looks to where Tup is standing with Dogma and tilts his head.

Tup still hasn’t looked away from Krell and the General, head turning to follow the path of General Skywalker as he leaves.

Hardcase waits until Dogma leaves, then makes his way slowly over to Tup, flings an arm around his shoulders and leans onto him, “Ya know, if you _really_ need to we can always just say screw it, just blow everything up and call it a day.”

Tup snorts, elbows Hardcase, “Yeah and kark the entire campaign up.”

Hardcase shrugs, "Yeah, that could definitely happen."

“ _Besides_ ,” Tup continues, as if he hadn't heard him, worry coating his words, “We have _no_ idea how long this’ll keep happening before we actually end up _staying_ dead.”

Hardcase winces, he’d been doing his best, and succeeding, in _not_ thinking about that thank you very much.

He’s just been focusing on how to take the Umbaran’s out in creative and highly effective ways, and also undermining Krell’s orders without getting in trouble for it, or getting the _Captain_ in trouble for it.

Fun times, not, you know, the thought that it’ll all be for nothing.

“Thank you for that _lovely_ thought, Tup.” he groans, sways his weight into Tup’s and grimaces, “And for scrapping all of my current plans.”

Tup shrugs, winces, “Sorry, just, was bothering me.”

Hardcase tilts his head, thinks Tup might mean that he’s been anxious and fighting off panic about it since he realized what was going on.

Hardcase squeezes at Tup’s shoulders, nudges him, “We just have to do our best to only make a mess out of the Umbaran’s then, yeah?”

Tup laughs, still laced with nerves, “Yeah, guess so.”

They look up and watch as the General’s ship leaves the atmo and they are left alone with Krell and a campaign that seems determined to see them dead.

* * *

It’s strange to have someone else looping back, though it’s not _bad_. Hardcase just hasn’t quite settled into a rhythm yet, and they still haven’t figured everything out. So things still get messed up because of miscommunication and they die far more times than they want.

But, he isn’t _alone_ now. And that fact is enough to keep him stable, keep him secure in the fact he won’t slip off the deep end and straight into the water.

Spite can get you far, but it can only do so much before you crack from the strain, before your hardwire goes nuts and you break down from it.

They figure it out though, manage to piece things together as a team to figure out which changes they can try to enact and _when._

It’s helpful, having two heads try to piece it all together and figure out how a change might affect things, instead of just going for it and hoping. Like Hardcase had been doing before.

It’s _useful_ , helps them know what to do next, for all that it leaves Hardcase swearing and his brain hurting.

It makes trying to change things, to _fix_ things before they go to shit even more than they already are, feel just that little bit less daunting.

Some of the loops are more successful than others. And they learn that, when certain actions are followed, there is a path and an ending that are far more likely to happen.

One of those paths is that, if Hardcase ends up on the supply ship, he doesn't make it out. Not once. He will always die before he can get back to base.

It’s a little infuriating.

And, no matter what, in every loop that they confront Krell in too early, it always ends in disaster. They and any others nearby will _always_ die

Which is awful for multiple reasons, the one highest up on the lists being that Hardcase would _really_ love to punch Krell right about now.

They settle into step, and stop dying because of something the other did, the worst of the miscommunication stops as well.

They realize, after a bit, that Tup looping back doesn't depend on Tup’s _death_. Sometimes, Hardcase will die and Tup will make it to the end of the campaign, alone, and jerk right back to the beginning of the loop.

He doesn’t always die, but he never leaves the campaign either, and he _never_ dies before Hardcase.

It’s strange and completely crazy and cements Hardcase’s stance on all the Jedi nonsense quite well.

Machinery is simple and soothing. And weapons are just _nice,_ grounding.

Give him machinery and weapons any day, thank you very much, all that Force stuff is for other people.

He's lost track of the amount of loops they've done by now.

But, it's not really important in the long run. Knowing how many times they've done this won't help them make it through the loop, or figure out how to end it.

Better plans and weapons though—

Those are beyond helpful.

Hardcase frowns down at the parts in his hand, he’s gotten quicker about it, over time, but it still isn’t fast _enough_. And everytime he dies and loops back, everything is reset. Which means that he’s just constantly starting over.

Tup passes him and Hardcase narrows his eyes, grins.

“Hey Tup!” He calls as he stands, sets the parts down carefully and grabs onto Tup. Pulls him back to the little spot Hardcase has claimed as his and drags him into sitting down.

Tup blinks up at him in bewilderment, “Hardcase? What?”

Hardcase shrugs and gestures with a hand to the table, “I’m teaching you how to do this so it doesn’t take forever to get them working each time we loop back.”

Tup blinks, looks down at the various explosives and looks back up at Hardcase, “ _Oh_.”

Hardcase grins, wide, and laughs, “C’mon Tup, it’ll be fun.”

Tup groans.

He laughs, settles in and starts showing Tup how to do it.

Hardcase is delighted to find that Tup is actually wonderful at taking direction, and great at getting the details right once he’s shown how.

He’s optimistic about the decreased time it’ll take to get these ready in loops now. Is almost buzzing with excitement at the thought of using them against the Umbaran’s.

(They work _wonderfully_ and Hardcase uses them gleefully. Tup, for all his teasing, grows to appreciate them as well.)

* * *

Hardcase doesn’t know what went wrong this time, just knows that Krell refused the order for reinforcements, and the Captain’s order to fall back was almost impossible with the amount of enemy forces pressing them back and circling around to ambush them.

They make it out with even less survivors than they did the very first time Hardcase went through this loop.

The only bright side is that some of the upgraded grenades had been finished and were effective in getting rid of some of the larger clusters of forces, able to get the 501st some room to breathe and make it out.

He _really_ fucking hates this planet.

The barracks are quiet outside of the occasional whispered remembrance and the breathing of the others.

Hardcase stares up at the bunk above him and fiddles with the hem of the blanket, restless and tired and angry.

There’s the whisper of footsteps on the floor and Tup slips into his bunk quietly.

Hardcase freezes, blanket slipping from his fingers and blinks.

Tup doesn’t look at him, just curls into himself, wraps his arms around Hardcase and tangles their legs together.

Hardcase breathes, curls around him and pulls Tup in close. Decides that the only good thing in this whole cluster of a campaign, whole cluster of a _situation_ , is that he isn’t alone anymore.

Tup slips off to sleep and Hardcase presses a kiss to the top of his head without a thought.

Freezes, as he realizes what he’s done.

_Kark._

This is not the best time to have this revelation. This might be the _worst_ time to have this revelation.

He closes his eyes, breathes, wishes that everything was as easy as machinery and blasters and explosions, and exhales shakily.

_Kark_ he hopes they make it out of this alive, and _sane,_ and as safe as they can be during a war.

He has not run out of hope yet, despite everything. In _spite_ of everything.

He tucks a flyaway behind Tup’s ear, listens to the sound of his breathing and feels like a shrapnel bomb about to explode with this feeling in his chest.

Time loops are, apparently, wonderful at making you fall in love.

He looks down at Tup and swallows, closes his eyes and curses in his head.

He sleeps, and he hopes.

(Tup lives after Hardcase's death in this loop, and he is shaking violently in the aftermath, whispers about friendly fire and unnecessary deaths and Hardcase is furious.

Can't find anything to lighten that, nothing he can say that'll help except a promise to punch Krell. Tup laughs, but it's a shaken sound, full of grief.)

* * *

They have the Umbaran fighters, and after so many times of doing this he knows how to operate them well enough that he can use them somewhat reliably. There are only two problems that come after that.

The first is figuring out how to convince the General to let them go through with the plan (and sneaking out if necessary), the second is making sure no one questions exactly _how_ he was able to use the Umbaran fighters so well.

The second problem is actually far easier to solve than the first, simply because Hardcase is still _very_ happy with the missiles and firing capacity.

All he has to do is be excited about any explosions and no one will suspect anything.

Tup doesn’t quite agree, frowns when Hardcase tells him his plan.

“Can’t you just tell the Captain you’ve been taking a look at the fighters?”

Hardcase frowns, shakes his head, “No, that wouldn’t work because of how they’re set up, remember?”

Tup blinks at him and Hardcase has a moment of realization, “Right, you’ve never flown in one before.”

Tup rolls his eyes, “Nope. It’s usually either you, Jesse, and Fives or it’s you going rogue alone while I keep things from getting worse and everyone down here distracted.”

Hardcases blinks, “Huh,” he says, and there is a glimmer of a thought building.

Repeating things doesn’t always work, so something about what they’ve been doing is wrong.

_Maybe_ , this is one of those things.

He turns to Tup, hasn’t even opened his mouth before Tup says “Oh no.”

Hardcase splutters, “Hey! What’s the oh no for?”

Tup leans forward, clasps his shoulder, “Hardcase, listen. You’re wonderful, I love you, but you _only_ get that look when you’re about to do something questionably sane, usually involving lots of _something_ on fire.”

Hardcase wrinkles his nose, “No I don’t.”

Tup raises an eyebrow and Hardcase scoffs, “I don’t! I don’t get _looks_.”

He flicks at Tup, grumbles, “The _General_ gets looks, Jesse and the Captain and _Kix_ get looks. _I_ don’t.”

Tup laughs, and it’s a shocking sound among the backdrop of the dreary, awful, horror of this campaign. The kindling in Hardcase’s chest burns warm and he doesn’t know _how_ he didn’t realize before this cursed loop.

Is grateful to it for only this, for giving him time to realize, more time with Tup.

Is still rightfully pissed at it for literally everything else it’s put him and Tup through.

He rolls his eyes, shoves at Tup, “Oh come on man, listen, okay. I swear it’s a great idea.”

Tup raises an eyebrow, “Mhm, is this idea the same one from before?”

Hardcase frowns, “Well that’s not fair, it’s not _my_ fault the plants are hard to kill with blasters.”

Tup gives him a _look_ , which is hypocritical and Hardcase is totally going to bring it up later, and says in a deadpan, “You threw the grenade and then _shot_ it.”

Hardcase nods, unashamed, “Yup, and it worked, killed those plants _and_ the ambush that always sneaks in through there.”

Tup snorts. “Alright, sure, I’ll give you that one.”

He grins, leans in to Tup, “Why thank you, much appreciated.”

Tup shrugs him off, “Okay then, what’s your plan.”

Hardcase sits down, smiles, “It’s a _good_ plan,” Tup hums and Hardcase rolls his eyes, “ _probably_.”

“I hope you know,” Tup starts, “that’s not actually reassuring,”.

Hardcase flicks him, leans his head on his hands, “Just listen, okay. We need to change _something_ , I think that, if we leave sooner, and I show you how to do the basic commands, we can grab the fighters without such a big loss, knock the supply ship out and—”

“And make it easier for the capital assault.” Tup finishes. Frowns, “Okay, good in theory, but even then that entire skirmish was a cluster, and we would still need the others so we could overtake the base.”

Hardcase deflates, “And in order for that to happen we would have needed it all to go exactly like it did before, and that entire cluster had too many losses because of —” he grimaces and trails off, suddenly very aware that they probably shouldn’t be talking about this out in the open like this. Even though they had already done a check, it still wouldn’t be good if someone overheard them planning and came to the wrong conclusions.

Especially not some of the veterans.

Hardcase has heard stories about Slick and the cluster on Christophsis, the whispered curses and insults that are spit when Slick is brought up.

He knows that if some of the others who’d been on that campaign overheard them, and came to the wrong conclusions, it wouldn’t be pretty.

He sighs, rubs at the back of his neck, “Okay, so we need to find some way to get around that. If we lead the teams around, and—”

Tup shakes his head, “It'll be a bloodbath, we just don't have the men to make it there, not with Krell refusing reinforcements, and we're already tired and running on fumes, we're just not in a spot where that could be an option."

Hardcase groans, leans forward, "Okay, but what if we sent a spec ops team in? Once they sabotage it we can have squads ready and in place to take the base. We'd still have to fight our way there, but it won't be as much of a bloodbath. Not when we're prepared, and have a plan in place, instead of just running in blind trying not to die or be overtaken."

Tup bites at his lip, fiddles with his hands as he thinks it over. Finally says, quiet and hesitant, "It could work, you would just have to—"

"Convince the Captain," Hardcase interrupts with a grimace, "I know."

It could either be easy, or it could be a useless attempt. Still, it’s going to be a hell of a lot easier than trying to convince Krell to do anything to save the men.

Hardcase thinks about the looks of increased desperation and resignation on the Captain’s face, remembers all the ways he’s bent the rules and looked the other way in the other loops.

He has a feeling the Captain will agree, as long as it’s laid out well, as long as it makes sense.

He has to hope.

Tup rubs at his face, “Okay, so we just have to convince the Captain to go against Krell’s orders and this might work.” He laughs, sounds a little hysteric which is about how Hardcase feels.

There’s a shuffle and both Tup and Hardcase freeze, stand up and turn.

Dogma is standing there, a stricken look on his face.

Tup makes an aborted move forward, pulls back again, “Dogma.” He says, and his voice is desperate.

Hardcase’s heart is beating out of his chest, this is even earlier than usual for Dogma to hear something he shouldn’t, and if he takes it to Krell—

Hardcase swallows his curses.

Dogma looks between them, shakes his head in something like disbelief, “What are you two doing.”

It’s not a question.

Tup reaches out, “Nothing, Dogma please.”

Dogma looks scared, utterly terrified and infuriated as he shakes his head.

"You _can't_ do this Tup.” he says, gestures towards them with his hands, wrings them together as he speaks, voice frantic. “It's crazy, you _can't_ go against direct orders."

Tup sets his jaw, stands straight, "Dogma, I'm doing what's best for all of us!"

"What you're _doing_ ,“ Dogma spits, “is asking to be decommissioned or reconditioned or any number of _horrible,_ awful things. All because you think you know better than the General! And you _don't_ , none of us do!"

He meets Hardcase’s eyes, "He's a _Jedi_. We have no idea what that's like, we don't have any of that knowledge or, or, _wisdom_."

Tup reaches out to Dogma, his hands held out and open in surrender, speaks evenly as he pleads with him, "He doesn't _care_ about us. He's just trying to get us _killed_. Dogma, following him won't _help,_ it'll just make things worse."

Tup looks to Hardcase fearfully and Hardcase steps forward, feels like he's stepping into an entirely different conversation than the one they're having.

He's not good at speeches or convincing people but he can try.

"He doesn't care about the Republic," he says, meets Dogma's frantic gaze, "have you noticed that not a single one of his orders made sense?"

Dogma shakes his head, “Stop it, you’re just going to get yourselves killed doing something stupid. I _am_ telling General Krell, he’s our superior and he _needs_ to know.”

He leaves them and Tup stumbles forward, calls for Dogma to wait, to listen. He doesn’t, just keeps going.

Hardcase clenches his hands into fists, breathes, tries to stay optimistic about this all even though this might mess everything up.

(Karking hells he hopes he can make it to the Captain in time, that the Captain can keep Dogma from making it to the General this loop.)

Tup is silent for a beat, reaches for Hardcase with something like desperation, whispers, “He’s never going to listen, is he.”

It’s a statement, not a question and Hardcase doesn’t have an answer. Doesn’t know Dogma as well as Tup does.

He doesn’t know what it was about the conversation that he missed there, because he _knows_ he missed something, but whatever it meant makes Tup slump into Hardcase’s grip, breath unsteady.

Hardcase can’t think of what to say either. Wants to say something to break that heavy unsettling feeling in the room, can’t when it feels like Tup is trying to keep himself together.

Tup takes a deep breath. Once, twice, and squeezes Hardcase's middle tightly before stepping away.

And Hardcase, well, he doesn't hate Dogma, but he _does_ hate the position Dogma is putting them into.

He blows out a breath, and it's loud in the unsettling quiet.

Tup rubs at his face, redoes his bun and sighs, "You should go talk to the Captain, I'll see if," he pauses, closes his eyes, "I'll see if I can convince Dogma to drop it."

Both of them know that it won't work, they've done this too many times, but Hardcase doesn't argue, just nods and let's Tup go.

He has an awful feeling about this.

* * *

Hardcase goes to talk to the Captain, makes it just as Rex finishes speaking to Krell, a sour look on his face. Just by that Hardcase can already tell that Krell has given Rex his orders to advance through the gorge.

He fights back a grimace, even when Rex, looking tired and a little furious, asks what he’s doing there.

He manages not to fidget, but he can’t quite help the way his hands move as he talks, lays out his plan and any other detail he can think of that both helps and doesn’t give too much away.

The Captain hesitates for long enough that Hardcase is terrified that he’ll turn the idea down. Play it safe and stick to Krell’s orders, no matter how insanely idiotic.

The Captain nods instead, face grim and drawn.

“Officially, we only reverted to a patched together plan after we engaged with the enemy and things went sideways, do you understand?” the Captain asks him.

Hardcase nods, “Of course sir, I’d never go against a higher up’s direct orders.”

Captain Rex snorts, “Clearly,” he says, wry amusement lacing his words, he watches Hardcase for a long second. Long enough and scrutinizing enough that Hardase shifts, picks at his vambrace.

“Unofficially,” The Captain finally says, “this plan is insane but thought through enough that it might _actually_ kriffing work. Though,” he grimaces, rubs at his face, “I don’t think I want to know how you got the intel.”

Hardcase winces, “No,” he agrees, “You really don’t.”

The Captain makes a pained sound, closes his eyes, “At least you’re honest, Trooper.”

Hardcase shrugs, and Rex sighs, “Alright, get a move on Hardcase, I’ll get things set up.”

Hardcase nods and is infinitely grateful for the Captain in this moment.

“Sir, yes, Sir.” he replies, turns to leave.

“Hardcase,” the Captain calls out, and Hardcase turns, confused.

He can’t read the Captain’s expression.

“If things go wrong,” The Captain says, and Hardcase doesn’t like where this is going on principle, “this was my idea, understood?”

Hardcase is, for a second, furious. He would never ask the Captain to take the blame for something _he_ did, he’d _never_ —

He freezes, wrinkles his nose and looks away from the Captain’s eyes. Shuffles his feet.

“Do you understand, Trooper?” The Captain asks again, steel in his voice, and Hardcase swallows, nods.

The Captain doesn’t know what that will entail, but Hardcase has seen all the different ways Krell chooses to punish insubordination and he wants to tell Rex not to do this, that he doesn’t have to.

He can’t though, not without looking even more insane than he usually does.

The Captain is a good man, Hardcase thinks as he leaves, as Rex prepares to fib his way through talking to Krell and doing his best to save his men.

The Captain is a good man, but he’s been left with only terrible choices available to him.

It’s one of the few constants in the loops, and it makes Hardcase furious for him.

He breathes, goes to find Tup, hopes he has good news.

* * *

Tup, judging from the look on his face, does _not_ have good news.

He falls into step with Hardcase and grabs at his wrist, squeezes it and shakes his head.

“I couldn’t convince him,” he says under his breath. And Hardcase isn’t surprised but he has _hoped_. If Dogma had a chance of listening to anyone, it would’ve been Tup.

He breathes, “Okay, that’s fine, it’s fine, we can still do this. The Captain said yes, he’s on our side as long as he can keep Dogma from Krell it should be fine.”

Tup purses his lips, unhappy and Hardcase nudges him, “Hey, focus, we can’t let this be the thing that screws us up okay?”

Tup nods, purses his lips, “Right, we got this. We can do it.”

Hardcase grabs his hand, squeezes, and resists the urge to pull him into _keldabe_ , “We can do it.”

They split paths, make their way to where they’re needed, distributing some of the modified explosives with instructions how to use them and warnings to be careful, and packing up and getting ready to move.

They’re about to begin their march, when Hardcase spots Dogma making his way to Krell with a determined look on his face that sends a spike of fear through Hardcase’s chest.

He can’t move forward to stop it, can’t intercept him without drawing attention to him and he clenches his hands into fists at his sides, curses furiously in his head.

The Captain intercepts him before Krell even notices him and if there was time for it Hardcase would take a minute to celebrate, but as it is he barely gets a minute to sag in relief before they’re moving out

It starts of similarly to the usual bloodbaths, but this time they’re just a little bit more prepared, and though they don’t have as many of the explosives as Hardcase might like, there’s still enough to make a difference when those fucking tans show up.

They’re close, they’re so _fucking_ close. They almost make it.

Hardcase is so focused with just getting through this, with reaching the airbase and giving the squads time to slip between the enemies defenses, that he forgets about Dogma.

They take the base, and the casualties are _so much lower_ than they usually are, even with Krell refusing to help and staying back and watching them fight and struggle and die.

But in the elated aftermath they _forget about Dogma_.

“CT-5385 and CT-2597” Krell calls out, and Tup and Hardcase both tense, turn away from the others.

Krell is standing menacingly, Dogma a nervous shade by his side, and for a beat all Hardcase can feel is overwhelming dread, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Tup twitches by Hardcase’s side, makes a tiny wounded noise that resonates in Hardcase’s bones.

Hardcase plasters on a smile, all false jaunty attitude, “Yes sir? Planning on joining in on the celebrations?”

Krell sneers, “There is nothing to celebrate yet _clone_ , and you should know that. We have accomplished nothing here because of incompetence. I expect only the best performance and I have yet to see it.”

The Captain steps forward, tries to intervene, “Sir—”

But Krell cuts him off quickly, “Was I speaking to you CT-7567?”

The Captain doesn’t back down, and Tup’s fingers wind their way around Hardcase’s wrist, squeeze tight in anxiety.

Dogma has gone still, uncomfortable, Hardcase can’t help the vicious thought of ‘ _Good’_ that crosses his mind, feels awful for it after, like he’s kicking a tooka that’s already been beaten down.

“No, Sir” The Captain says, and Hardcase wants desperately to interrupt, for the Umbarans to begin an attack _anything_ to stop this speeder-wreck, “But—”

“There are no buts here _Clone_ ,” Krell spits, “I am in charge here, and I have put up with the insubordination for long enough, now be quiet and let me address the troops under _my_ command.”

The Captain looks like he wants to keep speaking, but steps back hesitantly.

Hardcase is grateful he tried, stands straight and as tall as he can, chin up.

Krell looks down on the two of them with a sneer, “CT-5196 has brought to my attention that the both of you undermined my authority on purpose, as well as put together a scheme that could have cost us this entire campaign.”

Dogma fidgets, uncomfortable and starts to say something before cutting himself off.

Krell doesn’t even look at him.

Hardcase shifts, leans forward on his toes and rocks back onto his heels, rubs at the back of his neck, “Well, General, you see we just thought that—”

“That you knew better than a Jedi?” Krell spits and Hardcase stares up at him, fingers twitching to defend himself.

“We’d never insinuate that, Sir.” Tup says, as he tries to save this before it all goes to sith-hells.

“And yet—”Krell interrupts again, and Hardcase grits his teeth.

“We just saw a flaw in the plan that would have gotten more men killed, _Sir_.” Hardcase blurts out, doesn’t let the rage on Krell’s face stop him, “And we saw a better way to complete the mission _without_ risking the campaign.”

Krell snarls and Fives steps forward, “With all due respect, _Sir,_ Hardcase and Tup’s plan saved us from multiple _unnecessary_ casualties.”

“Your job is to lay down your lives for the Republic and to _listen to your superiors_ , is it not?” Krell spits, and there is a heavy feeling in the air, Hrdcase shifts, fingers twitching for his Z-6. Sees others twitching for their weapons as well.

The problem is that Krell does as well.

He smiles, wide and cruel, “Ah, so you’re all trying to kill me now, a shame, I must defend myself.”

The Captain sputters, “Sir, we’d never—”

Krell smirks, “But that isn’t what _I_ thought.”

Hardcase shoves Tup away, just as Krell lunges forward, lightsabers drawn.

He ducks for cover and brings his Z-6 up as quick as he can, Krell deflects all of them and Hardcase curses, leaps to the side, doesn’t think about how many brothers are being mowed down right now.

Dogma hasn’t moved, staring at the scene in shock, still and trembling. Hardcase curses. Makes his way over to him and hisses.”

“Damnit Dogma, let’s go.”

Dogma looks behind him, hisses “Krell—”

The lightsaber burns through his chest and Hardcase falls into the dark with a curse.

* * *

He jerks back to himself violently, coughing, sees Tup doing the same out of the corner of his vision.

He waves away the worries of the others as best he can, falls into step with Tup and squeezes his wrist. Tup leans his weight against Hardcase for a beat before standing up with a sigh.

When Krell steps out of the ship, Hardcase can see Tup move out of the corner of his eye. He thinks, for a second, that maybe Tup’s gotten antsy and decided to just go full in this go round.

He can’t really blame him for it, he’s done it enough times. Though he’s annoyed that it means they might end up executed or kriffing things up before they can even put their plan into place.

He’s surprised to see Tup half-running for Dogma instead, as inconspicuous as possible, trying not to draw attention to it. But the panic and fear lining Tup’s body is easy to see.

Hardcase is confused for all of a second, before he sees the blaster in Dogma’s hand and he puts the parts together, curses viciously in his head ‘ _Damnit Dogma, you chose now to join us?’_ and tries to find some way he can distract from the cluster that’s about to go down.

The blaster goes off and Hardcase closes his eyes.

Says into the shocked quiet, “ _Kark_ ”

Well, if this round was gonna go to sith-hells _anyways_ , might as well go all in.

He shrugs, raises his blaster (after a brief debate with himself over whether to use his Z-6) and says, with steady conviction in his voice, “General Pong Krell, you are under arrest for conspiring to destroy Republic property and resources and leave an opening for the enemy to advance.”

There’s another beat and General Skywalker raises an eyebrow, “Trooper, what are you doing?”

Krell turns, glares, and Hardcase breathes through that oppressing hatred, “Yes, I’d quite like to know what the meaning of this is, _clone_.”

There’s muffled shouting and Hardcase winces, doesn’t dare check on Tup and Dogma yet.

Hardcase smiles, despite the fact none of them can see his face, and says, tone sunny, “Oh, just reading you the charges against you sir!”

_Charges that may or may not have happened yet_ , he adds in his head, doesn’t back down.

The Captain steps forward, “Trooper lower your blaster, _now_.”

Hardcase grimaces, "No can do Captain, 'fraid I've already put my lot in."

General Skywalker looks tired, raises an eyebrow, "With what evidence are you trying to arrest General Krell, Trooper?"

Hardcase sighs, tries to think of a way to say ‘Weird Force Shit’ without having everyone mark him off as insane.

He shrugs, “Previous casualty reports of troops under General Krell, the fact that anyone who serves with him ends up worse off if they even make it out alive.”

He wrinkles his nose, shrugs again, decides ‘Fuck it’ and goes all in, “Also there’s some weird Force shit going on. He’s killed a bunch of us before, for finding out he's trying to make the Republic lose, plans to turn to Dooku’s side.”

There’s a beat of silence and then Krell’s face goes blank and General Skywalker’s goes incredulous.

He turns to Krell, eyebrow raised and arms crossed, “Oh really?”

Krell’s face remains impassive, “I’m afraid I have no idea what he’s talking about, control your men Skywalker, and maybe get rid of the unstable ones before they cost us this campaign.”

_Rude_ , Hardcase thinks to himself, and then doesn’t do much of anything else as something wraps tight around his throat and the world goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyways yeah I Hate Krell

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to find me other places I have a [writing tumblr](https://rose-blooms-red.tumblr.com) and a [fandom tumblr](https://themessofthecentury.tumblr.com)
> 
> Please come yell at me about Star Wars and DC!


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